After a long day at work, Thomas Jones, 27, a fourth generation coal miner, tries to clip his 6-year-old daughter’s nails before her bedtime at their home in eastern Kentucky. Jones recently received multiple certifications in computer science but has found few positions open that are higher paying than work in the mines.

THE IMAGE, DECONSTRUCTED | NEWS PHOTOGRAPHER SEPT-OCT 2018

Look past stereotypes to find truth of your subject

By Ross Taylor

It’s a welcoming image that caught my eye, a photograph that recalled an immediate nostalgia for a region that I knew well: central Appalachia. My love for the area began in college while working for a home-repair organization. The more time I spent there, the greater my appreciation grew. The people and their kindness were notable. The culmination of my time ended in living with a family in an old coal-mining holler for months. I felt at home.

It’s there where I began to understand the nuances that populate the region, from political and religious issues to economic and educational. The underlying history of coal — its rise and fall — provided a better knowledge of why things developed in the arc in which they did. Over the years, I’ve also witnessed the grinding effects of the resulting poverty on many I care deeply about.

As a result, I cringe at the simplistic narrative and visual portrayal of the region: uneducated, racist, drugged. The list goes on. I recoil at a grotesque representation that some photographers present in a myopic narrative that is often sensational and preconceived.

A renewed media interest in the region developed during the most recent election cycle and in the aftermath of President Donald Trump’s inauguration. Much of the reporting in the region focused on the “Trump” voter as if there were a singular bloc and intention behind this connection. A consistent drumbeat of a stereotype developed among many of the fly-in media that covered central Appalachia. What is harder to find, I think, are photographers who go in with a deeper openness and commitment to the time necessary to reflect on the complex. One of those is Brittany Greeson, 25, an independent documentary photographer based in Detroit.

“I think there’s a major disconnect between the national outlets that were covering it and what I was seeing on the ground,” said Greeson. While not aimed specifically at a Kentucky project she’s working on, Greeson points out that, broadly, “with a lot of stories I’ve pitched, editors often ask: How does it tie to the president? People were often cast in stories that were Trump-focused as if it’s always tied into the election.”

Greeson continued, “I’ve been curious about documenting how eastern Kentucky is transitioning from a coal-based economy and what that means for the region and the people who live there. That also includes the history of coal.”

She’s traveled to the region — namely, eastern Kentucky — on three separate trips, with funding assistance from organizations such as The GroundTruth Project, WGBH and most recently the Kentucky Documentary Photo Project, which is creating archival photography for the state of Kentucky. She’s spent two months in all, and her last trip was an immersive three-weeks documentary visit beginning in fall 2017.

Greeson was quick to point out that she didn’t want the work to be politically oriented: “It’s a very lazy narrative. Things are always more complex than they seem.” Greeson noted that it’s not as if there’s a Trump flag everywhere. She, in fact, saw only a few such prominent flags during her time in eastern Kentucky. “If you have to go looking for these clues and ideas that fit your narrative, you’re not doing a good job at reporting,” Greeson says. “I think there’s a lot of deep-rooted anger that we saw play out in the election because this region has been overlooked historically and has faced so many challenges.”

I agree. I’ve long admired Brittany’s commitment to those around her and the dignity she reflects in those she documents. As someone who has traveled extensively throughout central Appalachia, in a community development role and as a documentary photographer, I feel that carrying dignity and respect for the condition is paramount.

It’s clear from talking with her that she harbors the same sentiment. She’s also dogged and consistently points out her compassion for those she documents. It’s a lesson we can learn from.

She added, “I felt very angry at how other photographers were portraying these people. I was motivated by that anger and wanted to work with them [those she met] on their stories.”

“I’ve been curious about documenting how eastern Kentucky is transitioning from a coal-based economy and what that means for the region and the people who live there. That also includes the history of coal,” Greeson said.

When asked her about her own motivation for the continued work, she said earlier connections on the first fellowship kept bringing her back. “I felt like I was just absorbing all this information and couldn’t keep it open-ended. I was really passionate about telling the story, and there were very few people who wanted to report on it or who wanted to make it a primary focus.”

It also comes from something deeper, a connection to a type of upbringing that she could identify with. “I saw it mirrored in the people in eastern Kentucky. I am not claiming to be one of them, to know exactly what their experience is, but coming from my background, I really felt like I got them and they got me.”

Which is what I loved about the lead image here. It speaks to a sense of love, compassion and community that is often overlooked. It’s a quiet moment, rooted in support. It’s a fabric that underpins much of Appalachia. I asked Brittany about the picture, and she mentioned that it was about Thomas Jones, the man in the photo, because he was the brother of the young woman who inspired her project. Brittany said that a relationship with coal can be seen through the loss of her parents and her brother’s hard labor in the mines, emblematic of many in eastern Kentucky.

“Thomas has a computer-science degree and multiple certifications, but he hasn’t found a job yet as well paying as the mines. For me, this photo is about two major icons of this region: labor and family. It’s about the legacy of coal as seen through Thomas and his daughter.”

When asked some final words of advice, Greeson said, “The best thing is to be open to being wrong.” She emphasizes being open and not coming to a story with a set agenda. She also credits working with a historical society for her access and said most people were open to being a part of a community archive.

“If I had gone down there and said I worked for a major media outlet, I don’t think I would have as good of access.” She points out that the local government office for mine reclamation wanted to make sure she wasn’t working on a news story, weary of recent media.

She concludes with some final words that we can draw from: “People are very scared when things are attached to a preconceived narrative, especially when things are much more complex than they seem.”

Ross Taylor is an assistant professor at the University of Colorado Boulder. He’s on the board of directors for NPPA and is also the chair of the quarterly multimedia contest. He is the creator of imagedeconstructed.com. Taylor’s website is rosstaylor.net.

Brittany Greeson (1993) was born in Houston, with most of her childhood spent in Appalachia and Kentucky. She discovered her love of photojournalism as a student at Western Kentucky University and graduated with a B.A. in sociology this spring. Today she lives inDetroit and is an independent photographer primarily working with national news outlets. Prior to freelancing, she interned at The (Portland) Oregonian, The Roanoke (Va.) Times, The Flint (Mich.) Journal, The Washington Post and the San Antonio Express-News and was an international student at the Danish School of Media and Journalism in Aarhus, Denmark. Most recently, she received the Michigan Press Photographer of the Year award from the Michigan Press Photographers Association. For as long as she can hold a camera, Greeson hopes to continue documenting American daily life and issues of socioeconomic and gender inequality. You can see more of Greeson's images here: instagram.com/brittanygreeson and brittanygreeson.com.